Wouldn’t you love to save up $1000 this month? I know I would. You may need to save money for Christmas, your Baby Emergency Fund or because you have a big upcoming expense. Maybe you’re trying to get out of debt. No matter what the reason … you’ll find some great tips here to save money or make cash fast.

Our kids wanted to go to camp this summer and it was going to cost $900 to send all of them. I hate saying “No” to these kinds of activities, so I do everything in my power to make them possible.

I imagine that most families have something that they need to pay for, but it’s a stretch to do so. We just don’t have a ton of extra money floating around.

I know, as a one-income family, there isn’t a lot of cash that doesn’t already have a purpose. So, when extra activities or the holidays come up, we need to find a way to make money in a hurry.

I know that it’s best to plan ahead for all expenses, but it’s not practical for most families. We just can’t predict and budget for every single thing.

When my kids entered high school they decided to start playing sports – that was $200 in fees each. I didn’t know months ahead of time that this would happen, so that money had to come from somewhere.

I used many of the ideas in this article in order to make the money we needed to send the kids to camp, pay for sports fees, and also to prepare for our 3-month long road trip.

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Here are the Best Ideas to Save Up Money Fast

Stop Buying Food

You probably have a lot of food in your kitchen already. Get creative with what you eat this month. The following meals use very few ingredients and they just might already be in your pantry:

Tomato Soup

Potato Soup

Casserole

Pasta with Butter and Parmesan Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese

Crackers, Meat, and Cheese

Nachos

This awesome website: Fridge to Table, allows you to list the ingredients you have to use and then it searches for recipes with those ingredients. It’s great for nights you can’t figure out what to eat.

Depending on the size of your family and how much you normally spend on groceries, you could almost save the entire $1000 from this one area alone. I recently had a Pantry Challenge and saved our family $500.00 just on groceries.

You need to set a very small budget for things like milk and fresh produce, then don’t buy any more food for the designated time period.

Read these articles for more details:

Rent Out Your Extra Room

If you have a spare room, this might be a great thing to make good use of. Instead of letting it sit there unused – let someone else use it either permanently or on an occasional basis.

Return Some Things

This may sound crazy, but I always have something that I could return to the store.

Right now I have a robe that I bought and it just doesn’t fit right, so instead of just leaving it in my closet, I’m going to return it. I also have a box of storage containers that I bought from Costco and haven’t opened yet. I can return those too since I know I can live without them.

This is a good way to deal with those impulse purchases that you regret. We all have them.

Just don’t abuse this and return a bunch of stuff that you’ve been using and are just trying to make a buck off of. I’ve seen people use an air conditioner all summer, then return it in the fall. That’s rude – I’m not talking about doing that.

Stop Paying for Entertainment

We spend a lot of money on personal entertainment. I’m not just talking about costly things like going to the movies, concerts, and clubs. I’m talking about little things like these:

Eating Out

Coffee Out

New Makeup

New Clothes

Desserts

Junk Food

Books & Magazines

Soda

Movies

Do you realize that we tend to spend money as a way to make ourselves feel good? Buying these things gives us a little mood boost, but it quickly fades. And, they all add up very quickly.

Find Free Entertainment Instead

You could choose to go without any entertainment for a bit, or you could find some free things to do in your area.

Local Parks: You can probably find all kinds of places to walk, hike, and view nature. Or, do something fun like frisbee, basketball, or playing catch.

Google “Free things to do near me” and you’ll get lots of ideas in your search results.

If you lack impulse control (hand raised), don’t go somewhere free that also sells stuff — like a farmer’s market, shopping mall, winery, etc. You’ll end up buying stuff you didn’t plan on.

Sell Your Time

If you have extra time on your hands, let people know. Your neighbors might be looking to hire a little help. You could also reach out in any local Facebook Groups or Neighborhood Groups that you belong to.

Running errands

Caregiving

Dog Walking

House Sitting

Lawn Mowing

Cooking

As you can see, there are a lot of different ways that you can save money fast. Yes, like anything worth doing, it will take a little bit of effort and commitment, but no matter what you need the money for … if you don’t put in the effort, you just won’t get the results.

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